Re: Left-handedness -Reply

You're comment on talent increasing with experience reminded me of
something I haven't thought of in a while. In 4th grade I took art (I'm 42
now, so this was back in the Stone Age in New York when art and music were
standard weekly public school fare, and for the entire school year not
just 10 weeks). We did a clay unit and our art teacher told us to make
imaginary creature faces. I made one happy-looking one and she liked it.
So I took a risk and made an angry one, more reflective of my inner self
at the time. She told me it was terrible. "junk," I think she called it.
She never explained what was terrible and I never asked, but I never again
ventured to make a work of
art from that day to this. I've been following the sensitive and caring
comments of the art teachers in this group (I teach history of art) and I
wonder how different things might have been had I had people like you as
art teachers when I was a child. Your students are all very lucky.
--Carla in LA

> It's always interesting to speculate about the idiosyncratic habits of those> around us or of those we teach. I don't really like thinking in terms of> people as having learning disabilities (although a certain amount of> categorizing allows us to help people). I think that the brain is so complex> that we never see all of the variations in ways it can function. I like to> try to figure people out in their own terms rather than label their> differences. I realize this may be a somewhat simplistic viewpoint, but it> leads me to some very interesting learnings. > > As a left-handed person, I have also found it easy to do things> backwards and upside down, including spelling backwards as well as reading> upside down with ease. Some of this ability may be spatial rather than> left-handed, though. Left-handed people do have to learn to do most things> backwards (for us) anyway, as we live in a right-handed world, so we develop> skill through> experience. I also do math in a strange way which works quite well for me but> is not standard - more intuitive. My father and daughter seem to have similar> abilities in math.> > Shinichi Suzuki, the person who developed the famous Suzuki method of> violin playing, felt that talent increases with experience. Perhaps that> concept> explains partially why there are so many left-handed artists in the first> place, in addition to the left brain-right brain information. The idea that> talent increases with experience is another good argument for teaching> drawing to all children. I know I'm speaking to the choir, but we don't let> people stop studying math just because it's not one of their natural> talents.> > > I love the list. Keep it coming.> Louise King Lanzilotti> Curator of Education> The Contemporary Museum> Honolulu, Hawai'i> > > >